Huge response to appeal for info on mystery Greek girl

Updated
October 21, 2013 08:30:00

A charity helping to care for a mystery girl found living in a Roma settlement in Greece says it's had thousands of calls from around the world in response to an appeal for information about her true identity. The girl, named Maria, was removed from the couple looking after her in squalid conditions after she was found to be unrelated to them.

TONY EASTLEY: Now to a most curious case. There's been a huge response to an appeal from Greece for information about the possible identity of a young girl found living with a Roma family to whom she was not related.

The blonde girl, called Maria, has since been removed from the family and is being cared for in hospital.

The case has given hope to parents of missing children right around the world, as Europe correspondent Barbara Miller reports.

BARBARA MILLER: She was found living in squalid conditions in a Roma, or gypsy, settlement in central Greece. But the little blonde girl, aged about four, was found to be unrelated to the man and woman she was living with.

The couple had registered a large number of children with different local authorities, including six who were said to have been born within a ten-month period.

The couple are understood to have told police that the child was given to them by a woman who couldn't look after her, and community representatives say they have done nothing wrong.

Giorgos Tsakiris is the general secretary of the local Roma association.

GIORGAS TSAKIRIS (voiceover): She spent her days well, better than the other siblings, the biological ones. She spent her days very well and what they say about abductions is not true.

BARBARA MILLER: The girl, named Maria, is being cared for in hospital.

Panagiotis Pardalis is a spokesman for the charity Smile of the Child, which is helping to care for her.

PANAGIOTIS PARDALIS: She's improving increasingly. She's feeling happy, she's playing with her toys, and she feels safe in the new environment.

BARBARA MILLER: And what is she saying about her experience?

PANAGIOTIS PARDALIS: She doesn't say anything. And the priority right now is not to force the child to ask, to pose her questions about the past about what had happened. The priority now is to be calmed down.

BARBARA MILLER: What sort of response are you getting to your appeal for information?

PANAGIOTIS PARDALIS: We're having more, right now, we're having more than 8,000 calls from Greece and abroad. We have calls from United States, from Australia, Scandinavia, different countries, either with some information or support.

What we do is we forward this information to the police and the police is taking over investigating.

BARBARA MILLER: The parents of the missing British girl Madeleine McCann say the case gives them hope that their daughter could still be alive.

It's also brought another historic missing child case back into the headlines, that of the British toddler Ben Needham who went missing from his grandparents' home on the Greek island of Kos more than 20 years ago.

Leighanna Needham is the sister of the missing boy, who would now be in his 20s.

LEIGHANNA NEEDHAM: It was quite shocking to obviously find out this. For years and years we'd been told that it's impossible to hide European children in these sort of gypsy camps. And I mean for this case to come out, it's just proven that obviously can be hidden there.

BARBARA MILLER: The couple with whom Maria was living have been arrested on suspicion of child abduction and are expected to appear in court later on Monday.